Schools in UP to remain closed till Feb 15 because of surge in Covid

Schools in Uttar Pradesh will remain closed at least till February 15 because of an increase in Covid cases in the state, especially the Omicron variant. The announcement has come days within the Uttar Pradesh government announcing that schools will remain shut till January 30. Before this, the UP government had ordered a shutdown of all schools and colleges from January 16 till January 23. However, now the closure has been extended till February 15.
The order was issued by the additional chief secretary (home), Avanish Awasthi, on Thursday. He also added that online classes will continue in all schools, considering the upcoming secondary board examinations.
The Uttar Pradesh government reported nearly 10,937 Covid cases and 23 deaths on Wednesday taking the total number of active cases to 80,342. As of now, only 1.5 per cent of the total infected persons are admitted to hospitals in the state.